Personal care compositions are important products for most consumers. Personal care compositions contain a variety of additives that provide a wide array of benefits to the composition.
Antioxidants are among the additives commonly used in personal care compositions. Antioxidants help protect the skin from the damaging effects of free radicals caused by various environmental stresses, such as exposure to UV rays. Free radicals include, for example, singlet oxygen. Free radicals cause damage to the skin with the end result being a loss of elasticity of the skin and the appearance of wrinkles leading to premature aging of the skin.
Based on the physiological mechanism of the aging process, oxidative stress due to increased level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) especially caused by physiological stress or solar ultraviolet radiation can accelerate skin aging. There is evidence that intrinsic and extrinsic aging (i.e., photoaging) have several overlapping biochemical and molecular mechanisms. Type I collagen constitutes the major structural component of dermal connective tissue and provides dermis with tensile strength and stability. Degradation of collagen in the dermis has been reported in intrinsic aged and photoaged skin. Additionally, a major signaling pathway contributing to photoaging by ROS is the up-regulation of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), which leads to degradation of dermal collagen, associated with aging spots and wrinkles. Therefore, stronger antioxidants are needed as potential anti-aging ingredients to provide protection.
One such antioxidant that has been studied, as disclosed in WO 2012/150370, is resveratrol (3,5,4′-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene). Resveratrol is a naturally occurring polyphenolic compound found in the skin of grapes and other fruits. It has been investigated in the context of its potential chemopreventive properties against skin damage from UV exposure and against ROS induced damage associated with brain function, heart disease, and cancer. However, the natural abundance of resveratrol is low, and it is thus very expensive.
Consequently, there is a need to develop new antioxidant compositions for use in personal care, including compositions that mitigate degradation of collagen in skin.